March 14, 2006

Jumpstart

Posted by Arcane Gazebo at March 14, 2006 8:16 AM

I have been in Baltimore for a couple of days now; I would have posted earlier but my computer has chosen an inopportune time to refuse to turn on. This was distressing not just because I had several items to post to the blog, but also because I planned to use my computer for my talk this afternoon.

Fortunately my roommate had experienced a similar problem with his desktop, and had a trick for getting it started: hold down the power button while plugging it into the wall. This sounded crazy, but when I tried this (inserting the battery instead of plugging in the power cord) it booted right up.

So I should be in good shape as long as I don't shut it down again... Meanwhile, I am still under extended warranty and Dell is sending a technician to my hotel to fix the problem this week.

Just don't try to IM Gazebo during his talk, only to realize that he's still logged in... Someone in my group had that happen to him during group meeting. His girlfriend sent him a message while he was giving his talk, popping up an IM window containing a disgustingly cutesy exchange from earlier in the day. Oops.

Ha, I did remember to shut down all the internet programs before I connected to the projector. Even better would be to IM me during the talk just before mine, which was the grad student I work with, presenting from my computer.

Sorry for the lack of play-by-play on my part. The session ran behind a bit, and I had to rush somewhere right after Gazebo finished. Thankfully, he went really fast and I made up a little time as a result. (Actually, in general you're a good speaker, but the main thing you need to fix is to slow down. This goes for me, too, but I have a reputation for being hyper in the nonlinear science community---thus, in some respects, this kind of works for me.)

Travis, if you're up for drinking, we should go to that Irish Pub. (I won't have alcohol, but I think we should go to that restaurant/pub. :) )